Chapter 1: Xiàhé Village Tries to Take the Water

“Village Chief! Village Chief! The people from Xiàhé Village are here again!”
A little boy ran over in a panic, shouting at a five-year-old toddler sitting absentmindedly on a bench.

This dazed five-year-old toddler was none other than the village chief of Táoyuán Village.

The boy who ran over to call her “Village Chief” was none other than Zhao Hu, the eight-year-old grandson of Aunt Zhao—the woman who often helped the little girl braid her hair.

As for why this little girl was the village chief…

It was said that five years ago, after the old village chief passed away, on the seventh night after his death, he appeared in the dreams of several clan elders. In the dream, he told them the new village chief was under the banyan tree on the back mountain and asked them to go pick her up and raise her well—this child would bring great fortune to Táoyuán Village in the future.

At first, no one believed it. They thought choosing such a tiny child as village chief was nothing more than a joke—sure to make them the laughingstock of neighboring villages.

So everyone figured they’d just chip in some grain and raise the child together, no need to actually take the village chief part seriously.

But to everyone’s surprise, on the very first night the little girl returned to the village, it started pouring rain after a year-long drought.

The villagers were all in agreement—this little girl must be a fairy who descended from the heavens. The old village chief must have known the truth, but couldn’t say it outright because “heaven’s will cannot be revealed.” That’s why he gave the clan elders the dream, to guide them to pick up the little girl and make her village chief.

With a celestial being as their chief, Táoyuán Village was bound for greatness.

And so, from that day on, everyone genuinely accepted the toddler—who couldn’t even walk steadily yet—as their village chief.

The clan elders repeatedly reminded everyone in the village: the fact that the little chief was a divine being must never be told to outsiders. Anyone who had relatives in other villages was strictly forbidden from mentioning it. If anyone was caught leaking the secret, they would be removed from the clan registry and expelled from the village.

So every household sternly warned their wives and mischievous children: never let anyone from outside the village find out about the little village chief being a fairy. If word got out, other villages might try to come steal her away.

The clan elders also said that since the chief was still growing, she should only be called upon when truly significant matters arose. For minor village squabbles or day-to-day issues, there was no need to trouble her.

But today’s issue?
Zhao Hu was sure it was a big deal.
The two villages were on the verge of a brawl, and even Xiàhé Village’s chief had shown up. Their own village chief was a fairy—of course she had to be brought out.

Just then, a familiar voice rang inside Shi Xiaojiu’s mind.

“Go to the small hill. Protect the people of Táoyuán Village.”

Xiaojiu didn’t know who the voice in her head belonged to.

But she did know that completing tasks would earn her rewards.

So Shi Xiaojiu got up from the bench, put her hands behind her back, puffed up her chubby little cheeks, and walked ahead with the serious air of a tiny adult.

“Let’s go take a look.”

She’d learned this posture from the village chief of neighboring Xìnghuā Village, thinking it made her look more authoritative.

Zhao Hu followed behind the little village chief, watching the toddler try hard to appear mature and steady. It was kind of funny, but he held back his laughter. Their chief might be younger than them by a few years, but she really cared about saving face.

Soon, the two arrived at a small hill marking the boundary between the two villages. By now, people from both sides were already deep in a shouting match, with several men sporting injuries.

“Are you going to move or not?!”

“No! Why should we?!”

“If you don’t move, don’t blame us for getting rough!”

“Bring it on! Who’s afraid of you?!”

“Exactly! This is Táoyuán Village’s well! We dug it ourselves! You’ve come here to steal water—have you no shame?!”

“…”

Several clan elders spotted Xiaojiu approaching, and immediately turned to Zhao Hu with very unfriendly glares.

“Who told you to bring the Village Chief here?! What if some blind fool ends up hurting her—are you looking to get beaten?!”

Zhao Hu’s father, Zhao Dalang, was fuming.
This little brat—how could he bring the little Village Chief to a place like this? Couldn’t he see that the two villages were about to get into a full-blown fight? If anything happened to the Village Chief, their family would be branded sinners by the whole village.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He raised his hand and gave Zhao Hu’s backside a few hard smacks, scolding as he hit him:
“Who told you to bring the Village Chief here, you little rascal? Got an itch that needs scratching, huh?”

Zhao Hu howled in pain.
As he listened to his father’s scolding, he realized he really had made a mistake.
The Village Chief was still so small—what if someone from Xiàhé Village took advantage of the chaos and hurt her? She was tiny, one punch could kill her!
The more Zhao Hu thought about it, the more terrified he became.

He quickly started crying and apologizing:
“I won’t do it again! I’ll take the Village Chief back right away, wuwuwu~~~”

Shi Xiaojiu quickly stepped in to stop Zhao Dalang, who was still raising his hand:
“Dalang, don’t hit him anymore. I came on my own. It’s not Zhao Hu’s fault.”

Seeing the Village Chief herself had spoken up, Zhao Dalang let Zhao Hu go.

Zhao Hu looked at the little chief as though she were his guardian angel.
He just knew it—there’s no way this man was his real father!

Xiaojiu rolled her eyes in disgust and turned away.

She looked at the clan elders and asked,
“What happened?”

The elders immediately perked up like they’d found their backbone. With renewed confidence, they indignantly began explaining how people from Xiàhé Village had come to snatch water and even hurt someone.

No one knew what was going on this year.
It hadn’t rained in months. The ground was cracking, the once lush green wheat fields had withered and turned yellow, and the vegetables in the fields looked downright tragic.

Thankfully, last year the little Village Chief had led the villagers on a search for water sources and they’d managed to dig several wells—just barely enough to support the whole village.

A while back, Old Zhang, who lived near the entrance of the village, heard something suspicious late at night and thought a thief had broken in. But when he went to check, he saw people from another village stealing water from the well under cover of darkness.
Worse than the stealing—they beat Old Zhang!

Since then, every household in the village had been taking turns guarding the wells.

Now, these rascals from Xiàhé Village, seeing that they couldn’t steal the water anymore, had just stormed in to snatch it openly.

If it were ordinary times, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal.
But who knew when the rain would come again?
With so many mouths to feed, even those few wells weren’t quite enough for Táoyuán Village’s own needs. If they gave in now, their own villagers might not survive.

Xiàhé Village claimed the water was drawn from underground, and that Táoyuán Village’s wells probably pulled water from beneath their land too.
So why could Táoyuán villagers use it while they couldn’t?

Táoyuán villagers disagreed.
Those wells were dug thanks to the little Village Chief’s leadership. The wells were in their territory, so they belonged to them. If Xiàhé Village wanted water, they could dig their own wells.

And so, the two sides stood in a standoff, neither willing to back down.

After hearing everything, Xiaojiu had a general grasp of the situation.

She turned to the opposing village’s chief and asked,
“So you’ve come to our village to steal water?”

The village chief of Xiàhé looked at the tiny child who wasn’t even as tall as his thigh, scoffed, and pushed her aside dismissively, not even bothering to answer.
Instead, he pointed at the elderly Táoyuán clan elders and sneered,
“What, are all the grown men in your village cowards? You have a little brat come out and lead for you?”

Xiàhé villagers burst out laughing.

“Yeah, exactly!”

“A snot-nosed kid like that—shouldn’t she be playing with mud somewhere?”

“You bunch of cowards, hiding behind a baby girl. Pathetic!”

“…”

Táoyuán villagers were instantly enraged.

They hadn’t even been this mad when Xiàhé people came to steal and snatch water before.
But now—they dared to mock their little divine Village Chief?

A few hot-blooded young men clenched their fists, veins bulging.
If not for the sharp warning glares from the clan elders, they would’ve already grabbed their hoes and gone up to crack some skulls.